It must have been ten years since I attended a Christmas mass. They have obviously not changed much. The Prayers in the Church is always of the same mold. A big mistake in the little portable missal I held. All dates had been changed except for the date on the first inner page. It, therefore, read “December 25, 2010”.
The Holy Spirit Church was not crowded ; there had already been the 7:00 p. m. Mass for the children. As I had arrived too early, I observed for a while those who came to this first mass. Their youth surprised me. Many young couples with a first or second child. A mother who was pacing in the church to calm her newborn baby, a few old men who would probably go to bed early since they already seemed so asleep, a large empty manger on the right of the altar, foreshadowed living characters. Indeed, after a few melodies, a reader began the Christmas story. The tone was set, when the donkey and the ox appeared, seemingly coming straight from Passe-partout. And when the ox started talking in the manger, I ran away to a Starbuck to wait for the other mass.
What else can we say ? The songs were beautiful, the bass, which didn’t sound like much, and slender, called out a beautiful Midnight, Christians a little heavy, but very manly. A mezzo-soprano gave us a delicate Hail Mary, and our small choir twirled between Carpenter, Bach and The Angels in our countryside. So it was a beautiful Christmas Mass.
Outside, it was freezing. I went back home, went down to meet my friends. On the menu, oysters (four varieties), leg of lamb, two excellent wines, and an amazing discussion about God (which, in our opinion, is the measure of our ignorance). I went back to my house at 3:00 in the morning.
In short, all in all, a beautiful Christmas.
Peace on Earth to people of goodwill. And for the others, I hope a little devil ruined the party for you.
